war crimes

First printed in MRZine.org on 13 November 2009

On 3 November 2009, the United States House of Representatives voted 344-36 in favor of House Resolution 867, making it Congress' official response to the 575-page Report submitted by Justice Richard J. Goldstone to the United Nations Human Rights Council at the conclusion of a “fact-finding” mission on the Gaza conflict. The Resolution does little more than recycle traditional rhetoric about an anti-Israel bias, Qassam rocket attacks, Hamas' use of human shields, and Israel's right of self-defense, all in an effort to ignore the reality of the Israeli Occupation of the Palestinian Territories and the devastating effects it has had on the region. By passing HR 867, Congress has opted to join the Israeli government in rejecting international efforts to defend the civilians in Palestine and to hold Israeli and Palestinian forces accountable to international law.

Calls for an independent investigation into the Bush administration's misdeeds are becoming more persistent and difficult for the ruling officials to ignore.1 Spain has already initiated criminal proceedings against six of the administration's high-ranking officials, including former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. In March, Center for Constitutional Rights President Michael Ratner appeared before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to request that they call for a criminal investigation in the United States, policy reforms, and reparations, and Amnesty International USA coordinated meetings between several citizen delegations and federal legislators in April to press for an independent inquiry. The people also want to see the previous administration face justice: according to a recent Gallup Poll, 62% of US citizens favor an investigation, with 38% favoring a criminal investigation, and 24% an investigation by an independent panel. 2 Even pundits in the notoriously subservient mainstream media -- perhaps upset by the way that the Bush administration's blatant deceptions threatened to draw attention to their role as a mouthpiece for the rulers -- have echoed calls for investigations and impeachments.

1. 1. I originally wrote this article six months ago for submission to "The Nation." They never got back to me on it, so I took it to the "Z Magazine," and they must not have liked it either, because they also ignored it. Next was "Monthly Review," where they at least acknowledged the submission and thanked me for considering them, but they didn't have space for it. Finally, I took it to "Dissent" three months ago, and they haven't gotten back to me yet. This leads me to conclude that this may not be a very good essay, and I feel compelled to warn you of this before you get too far into it.
2. 2. J. Jones. 12 February 2009. No Mandate for Criminal Probes of Bush Administration. Gallup, Inc. Available at: http://www.gallup.com/poll/114580/No-Mandate-Criminal-Probes-Bush-Administration.aspx

President Obama's 4 June 2009 speech in Cairo briefly turned the media's spotlight back to the conflict between the Israeli government and the Palestinian people. In keeping with the traditional role of the commercial press, the reports of CNN, The New York Times, the ever-reactionary FOX News, and others faithfully reiterated the "official" position of the two ruling parties and their array of "experts" (although FOX News did take the time to find a fanatical settler who would venture even farther right than the experts). The mainstream media's historically one-sided coverage of the issues that Obama raised in his speech has consistently failed to offer any critical analysis of the popular assumptions regarding the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian people. Consequently, most people in the United States who rely on the media for their information have an extremely distorted perception of what's actually happening in the Occupied Territories, and why Israel has been such a significant source of tension in the Middle East. This article attempts to eliminate some of this ignorance by filling in a few of the contextual lacunae left by the corporate media's irresponsible journalism.

This column first appeared in the 7 April 2009 print edition of the Purdue Exponent
The domestic press has largely ignored Amnesty International's call for an arms embargo on Israel, Hamas, and other militant groups, even after the human rights organization's recent report that Israeli forces had used US-supplied weapons, including illegal white phosphorus artillery, against civilians. While several mainstream and student papers, including the Exponent, carried heated debates about the justification for Israel's three-week assault on the Gaza Strip, that this attack was almost entirely subsidized by the US government was largely overlooked.

As of Monday 29 December 2008, the death toll of Israeli military assaults in the Gaza region has passed 335 deaths since Israel began its bombing campaign on Saturday 27 December 2008. In this same time, rocket attacks by Hamas forces have caused two Israeli deaths. 1 As usual, spokespeople for the U.S. government have helped to escalate the violence by offering unconditional military support to the Israeli government. In an effort to help the government understand that the people of the U.S. do not condone U.S. backing for further violence in the region, I drafted and transmitted a brief letter to the President and to my two U.S. Senators and one Representative. While I expect my individual request to have little bearing on on this matter, it is my hope that many others are also doing something similar. Anyone who is looking for information to include in a letter of h(er|is) own is welcome to use what I have to offer below.

1. 1. Rory McArthy and Ewen MacAskill (29 Dec 2008) Israel says its army is fighting war to the bitter end against Hamas. guardian.co.uk. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/dec/29/gaza-israel-palestinians-middle-east